Right and I don't completely disagree 2013 may be one of the slowest years for Sony. 

I've said this many times; from roughly 96 to 06 the playstation didn't have much competition, sega insisted on shooting their own foot and nintendo never gained the momentum they had with the SNES.

But at this point the market is saturated with 3 strong brands. And amidst that competition the PS3 has been gaining market share quite rapidly in the last few years.

Your conclusion is actually irrelevant to your graf. The shipments are falling but the brand is recovering from the disastrous ps3 phat era.

Yeah, obvious decline since the PS3. Did the PS3 destroy the playstation brand? Remains to be seen, Sony definitely has a lot on the line with PS4.

This year certainly will not be the lowest since there are still plenty of weeks to go for the ending of fiscal year 2012. but agree with the notion that if Sony doesn't release PS4, they are going to be on a tight spot.
Comparative (separate) graphs for Microsoft and Nintendo could be pretty interesting, i'm pretty certain this could be a trend for the three companies.

Milestone? according to this graph and your statement the shipments forcast for next will be an all time low in the last decade. Unless thats what you consider as an milestone.

So, you needed all that to tell us PS2 and PS were badass system which kicked everyone's ass which PS3 is not of which we have known for 5 years now.

thanks Kow. can't wait to see the 360 graph. the PS brand isn't weak, there are many test for it to over come, and PS3's decline is the first, but not the biggest.

i'll wait to see your 360 graph to comment further.

PS4 has to prove wht PS3 did, and that's can it compete, and gain ground.

interesting...

good job @ OP

wow i never would have imagined they got back to the level of 1998 especially considering hw the video game market expanded since then...

the most worrying is how the curb is in fast decline and seemingly so far from getting flat again...